Moonlight
by Tails Is FLUFFY
Summary: A mysterious mountain dweller captures Dirk's curiosity.
1. Prologue

_**Hi! This is my first time writing in this category! I'm playing the game as I write this so please excuse any flaws in the story.**_

 _ **Thank you for reading this chapter! I own nothing except my overactive imagination.**_

 **Moonlight**

 **Prologue**

She only came out at night.

Her only companions were the bugs and animals that scoured the mountainside. The only lights came from the fireflies in the summer and the moon.

Most of the time she came out for samples for her research. But sometimes, especially in winter when the animals would hide from the cold, she would creep down to the bottom of the mountain to the village nearby. Usually, there would be no one around by the time she entered the town square. But occasionally there would be a festival. She would hide in the shadows as the villagers celebrated whatever they did. No one knew she existed, let alone knew she was there. They had their fun with each other, laughing and playing under the moonlight as they did under the sun.

When she saw them socialize with each other, a twinge in her heart would come along. She wished she could talk and dance with other people. She wished she could have human friends.

But she was scared.

Scared of how they would treat a stranger who didn't know how to act around others.

So she comes out in the night, the moon her only light. She hides in the shadows. Watching. Waiting.

Hoping.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Looks like I'm done for the night."

I stood outside the entrance of Bluebell, rummaging through my bag to see if I had missed a stray letter. When I had confirmed that I was indeed done, I glared at the only path that led home.

I groaned. I hate this mountain! It takes four hours to get to Bluebell in the middle of the day and four hours to get back to Konohana after delivering all the mail of the day. I don't get home until midnight and then I have to start all over again seven hours later.

"This mountain is going to kill me."

"At least you'll die in a pretty place."

I turned my attention towards the newcomer. She was in front of the village's shipping bin, dropping some fish inside.

"Hey, Sage." I greeted her. "I haven't seen you all day."

"I don't blame you for that." She closed the lid and came to stand by me on the trail. "I've been fishing all day. You must have passed me without either of us noticing. "

"Yeah." I sighed. I rarely strayed from the beaten mountain path. It was the fastest (and basically the only) way to go between the two towns. I try cross the mountain as fast as I can so I could get a bit more time at home later on so I don't dawdle in the scenery.

"You look like you just woke up." The girl commented.

"I kinda conked out in the cave." I admitted, earning a laugh from my companion. I hadn't meant to fall asleep over a cup of apple cider. But today had been especially windy, even for a mid-autumn day, and the drink had been so warm...

Laney woke me up around seven thirty, three hours later. She had kindly offered to take the remaining post for me (she had managed to go through my bag and had the letters in her hand and I would have felt like an ass if I had said no.) and sent me on my way home.

One of us yawned then. I realized it was me once I closed my mouth. Sage gave me an apologetic grin before searching through her bag. She gave a cry of triumph and pulled out a bottle of milk that miraculously hadn't spilled.

"Here." She pushed the glass towards me and my hands instantly closed around it. "It's to hold you on the trip back."

"Sweet." I mumbled, putting the fragile bottle in my own bag.

"Come on..." Sage poked my shoulder. "Where's your cheery attitude that you always have?"

"How do you know what I'm always like? You've only known me for a year." I remind her. A brief flashback of a light brown female landing in front of me after doing a front flip off her horse went across my mind then.

"I'm your best friend." She smirked. "I know how you are."

"Well, then." I placed my hands on my hips. "Since I'm your best friend I'm have the power to tell you that you reek of fish."

"At least I don't get creeped out by them."

"Low blow." The fake hurt expression I sent here was countered by her yawning.

"I guess we should call it a night." Sage started to turn towards her farm.

"I'm glad tomorrow's Sunday." I cheered.

"It's supposed to rain in the morning." The girl threw over her shoulder.

"It won't bother me! I sleep in!"

Sage waved me off and I watched her go inside her farmhouse. I yawned again and turned back to the mountain path.

I'm so glad I get to sleep in tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 2

_**How long has it been? I stopped writing this story because I had no idea how to continue this. Did not help that I accidently deleted the game as well. But I have been playing some more of HM games and came back to this archive. There is a lack of Dirk from ToTT stories and even though it's not the newest game out anymore, (wasn't the newest game when I started this) I still want to finish this. So, bear with me and thank you for waiting all this time!**_

Chapter 2

It was raining. Again.

She sighed as she stood in front of her open doorway. She knew by the way the clouds looked and how the air felt a couple of nights before that a storm was coming, but she did not know how long it was going to last. She certainly did not expect it to last three days.

In most cases, the rain did not bother her at all. There were some items that only showed up in a downpour and she never hesitated to get soaked and dirty for those ingredients. Heck, she even planned to do more hunting tonight. But she had wanted to dry some herbs today in the dry and windy air that autumn was prone to give. Rain would not give her the results she needed now so all she could do was turn up the temperature and suffer in the heat all for the sake of her herbs drying so she could use them as soon as possible or suffer in impatience to wait for the rain to pass by. Smoke inhalation from the oven was a bad thing so she chose the latter.

She stamped her foot in irritation.

"I got things to do, rain. Can you let up now?"

Dirk was restless.

It had been three days since the downpour started, which meant three days off his route and three days of undelivered mail. His mailbag sat in a lonely corner of the room as he rolled around in bed. On bad weather like this, he wished he had a wagon or something that would protect his precious cargo from the elements like the mail carriers who brought the mail to his house to be distributed to both towns. However, Dirk knew that even the most advanced vehicles weren't going to be completely effective against bad weather on mountains. Everyone would just have to wait until the rain let up.

But waiting around doing nothing didn't sit well with Dirk. He had to do something.

He stretched and sat up in his bed. The morning sun managed to light the house enough where he didn't need to put on any lights. He showered, ate, and decided on going to the town hall. Something was always going on there. He put his hat on and grabbed his umbrella. Luckily, the rain wasn't blowing in all directions so he didn't get too wet on his trip.

There were a few people in the town hall. Most of them were visitors that had gotten stuck here because of the weather. Three of them were playing cards in the corner so he made his way to go watch the game.

"You want to join?" One of them offered after a few turns. She patted the empty chair beside her. "It's better with more people." The mailman nodded and sat down in the offered seat. He knew the game already so he had been able to immerse himself quickly. He had no idea that it was near lunchtime when the group had finally finished the game and started stretching. He bid them goodbye after they announced that they were going up to their room to eat and left the town hall. He started to head towards the tea house to eat when something nearly collided with him.

"Hi, Dirk!" Sage stopped in front of him, panting. Dirk shook his head as he noted that she had nothing to cover herself from the rain and was thoroughly soaked. Again.

"You're crazy." He told his best friend.

"Yeah, I know. You tell me this every time it rains."

Dirk sighed and held his umbrella over the two of them. "What brings you here today?"

"I finally got the ingredients Yun had requested on the message board. I was heading towards the tea house to give them to her."

"You're heading towards another tongue lashing." Dirk warned. He remembered the times Sage came in soaking wet into the tea house, the elderly woman had chided her while rubbing her down with towels. After she had gotten the farmer to stop dripping she would sit her down and push a bowl of hot soup towards her.

Sage giggled. "I know. Something warm does sound nice, though. Were you heading towards the tea house as well?" Dirk nodded.

"Shall we continue our transit, madam?" He bowed playfully to her.

"Yes, we shall." She drawled. The two friends laughed before heading to the tea house.


End file.
